One of the best popular mixes of Bach counterpoint ever...lyrics hard to place but the music moves you...

He's still got the pipes...thank you for posting this. I've never had the slightest idea what this song is about; I just know that it's true.

I didn't pretend that song made any sense even when I was that young.

I really like the Annie Lennox cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJIVz9nYx7I

Robin Trower.

Hearing the song always makes me think of Nick Nolte and Rosanna Arquette in Life Lessons (New York Stories-one of Scorsese's better work).

The original song has four verses. The final two verses were cut to reduce the length of the song to a duration that could be played on radio. The lyrics above make no narrative sense because the final two verses are missing--the story ends midway through, before the narrative is complete.

The song is about a man examining his drunken seduction of a (probably married) woman in a bar, their subsequent sexual encounter, and her shame over the act--hence her face turns a whiter shade of pale.

Also, the "mirror" lyric is incorrect. It is "the miller", which is a reference to The Miller's Tale, another story of sexual seduction of a married woman.

And sorry, Fat Man, but the Annie Lennox adaptation is horrifically bad, nearly a sacrilege. This song was written to be sung as a tortured ballad, reflecting the emotional pain of the singer as he considers the morality of his act and the pain and trauma he has inflicted upon the woman. She turned the song into bubble gum pop elevator music. Puke.

My 3 yr old granddaughter caught me watching this. On the new video I pointed out all the various instruments (beautifully played). I'd started the 60's version, and had to take a phone call. She watched the old version about 4-5 times while I was on the phone. It's good to know she appreciates and enjoys great music.

Whiter Shade of Pale is the most affective piec of music I have heard. I have listened to just about everybody's version. It just doesn't work without that organ.

Thank you for this Gerard!

The original used an organ (B-3?) and the organist recently won a suit for a bigger piece of the royalties since the song was a bomb without the organ. The court agreed.

jim

This song for me makes me feel they way I did then

I was 17. She was 16. It was our song in the summer 0f 1967. Ahh... what wonderful memories :)

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